TIMMINS - One family’s involvement in the community is being honoured with the renaming of a chalet they helped get built.
The Porcupine Ski Runners has renamed its main building the McNair Chalet in honour of past board member Gerry McNair in honour of the work he did to get the chalet built.
“It was a lot of work, a lot of years and a lot of work,” he said.
McNair said the naming also honours the work his wife put into the project as well.
“I think my wife, Noëlla is part of the McNair designation because she was largely in charge of fundraising and publicity for the project,” he said.
The chalet was originally named Xstrata Copper Chalet and then renamed Kidd Operations Chalet after Kidd bought Xstrata Copper. The company originally donated $50,000 to the project, which was completed in 2010.
“This project gave us a new chalet, improved entrance road, refurbished parking lot and a rebuilt septic system,” said McNair.
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The family joined the club located on Highway 101 east of Schumacher when it moved there in 1976.
“My wife went to try it out first and I followed after that and had a look at it and tried and figured, ‘That’s for us’,” he said. “Our entire family joined and we’ve been there ever since.”
The renaming was a complete surprise to McNair.
“Surprise is the reaction, it’s a surprise and unexpected,” he said. “I feel honoured, which would mean I’m pleased with it.”
Porcupine Ski Runners president Christine Dorion said in an email that the work McNair and his family did in getting the chalet made it the right place to honour their contributions.
“Gerry and his wife were instrumental in fundraising, design of the chalet and oversaw this project from the beginning to the end. Many days, months, years were dedicated to delivering this beautiful chalet,” said Dorion in an email to TimminsToday. “Ski clubs are envious of the chalet we have here in Timmins.”
It was Lorne Luhta, the club's founder, who came up with the idea to honour the McNairs in this way.
The Porcupine Ski Runners was founded in 1972 and is one of the largest Nordic ski clubs in the country. It is a volunteer-run organization that offers cross country ski and snowshoe trails as well as the chalet.
